


Some nights are just like that

by unknownlifeform



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! - All Media Types, Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Bodyswap, Confessions, Dialogue Heavy, Light Angst, M/M, Post-Canon, Yu-Gi-Oh! Mini-Exchange, mentions of malik's trauma, ryou's house is an actual death trap of random possibly cursed junk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-19
Updated: 2020-11-19
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:34:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,857
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27634855
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unknownlifeform/pseuds/unknownlifeform
Summary: When Ryou let Malik sleep at his house for the night, he hadn't expected to wake up in the middle of it, and find the two of them had been switched. He takes it remarkably well
Relationships: Bakura Ryou/Marik Ishtar
Comments: 6
Kudos: 18
Collections: Yu-Gi-Oh! It's Time to G-G-G-Gift! [Mini-Exchange]





	Some nights are just like that

**Author's Note:**

  * For [rochelleechidna](https://archiveofourown.org/users/rochelleechidna/gifts).



> Prompt was for some bodyswap angstshipping, I hope it will be enjoyed!

Ryou blinked slowly. There was a sort of dull ache behind his eyes. Not enough to be reason he had woken up. Just annoying. The kind of pain he'd associate with having spent too long staring at a screen.

He was sure that couldn't be the case. The evening before he'd played a board game with Malik until they had decided to go to sleep. Maybe Ryou was just a little dehydrated, it wouldn't be the first time it happened.

Ryou sat up in bed, and as he did it occurred to him there was something not quite right about that. The previous evening, when they'd realized it was getting late, Ryou had offered Malik to spend the night at his place rather than going back to the hotel. Malik had agreed, and Ryou had taken out a futon.

Except the futon had been for himself. He was sure he had given Malik the bed, because it was more comfortable for him. Meaning Ryou should not be in bed now.

Was he misremembering? In the light of his digital clock he could vaguely make out a shape on the ground. If he was here, and Malik was there, then they must have gone to sleep like that. Still, Ryou was fairly sure he'd taken the futon.

He was probably still half asleep. The clock told him he had woken up a little past four in the morning. He'd go to the kitchen, drink some water, and then go back to bed.

He left the room as silently as possible, hoping not to wake Malik up. Closing the door behind himself, he turned on the hallway light. He immediately had to squint at the sudden brightness.

Rubbing his eyes, he walked to the kitchen. The game he and Malik had been playing was still open on the table. They'd had fun. Malik wasn't quite as into board games as Ryou was, but he had a good mind for strategies. Ryou wished they could play together more often.

He wished he saw Malik more often, in general, but those were the small pains of having a crush on someone who lived on the other side of the world.

Ryou reached out to grab a glass, and froze.

Slowly, he turned his hand in front of his eyes. Ryou was pale. Way too pale, if his friends were to be listened. He spent little time outdoors, not enough to develop a tan, and on the rare occasions he did it was barely noticeable. And yet his hand, that yesterday had been as white as always, was now darker than Ryou ever remembered his skin being.

Looking at his arm, Ryou could see that it had also apparently gained a very intense tan overnight. So had his other arm.

Ryou turned on his heels and went to the bathroom instead, where the mirror was. The face that greeted him was rather good looking, but not the one Ryou had expected. Gold hair, purple eyes. Ryou pinched himself, but nothing changed.

Alright. He took a deep breath. He had no idea how or why this had happened, but it wasn't the worst situation Ryou had ever been into. It was unexpected, but on the scale of weirdness Ryou had had to put up with in his life this didn't even make it to the top five.

"Malik," he called, walking back to the bedroom. His voice was very much not his own. "Malik, wake up."

The figure on the futon breathed in, but didn't stir. Ryou turned on the lights.

"Wha-"

Malik had woken now. He squinted, looking towards Ryou, and it was at least a little bizarre to see his one face starting at him.

"We might have a problem," Ryou said.

Malik screamed.

***

There was something fascinating in watching Malik pacing back and forth while in Ryou's body. Being himself in Malik's body wasn't too weird so far – if he didn't look down at himself, Ryou could almost forget about it. Malik, on the other hand, was most definitely jarring to look at.

"Damn it," Malik said. "Isis turned off her phone for the night. Is there anyone in Domino who could know something about this?"

Ryou tried to think. Anzu was away, Jou and Honda had no idea what to do with the occult on a good day, and even if Ryou had Kaiba's number he doubted Kaiba would be willing to help. "Yugi, maybe?"

Malik nodded. "I'll call him."

"Hold on," Ryou said. "It's four in the morning."

Malik glared at him. "Four and a half, and I'm inside your body. I think this qualifies as an emergency."

In another occasion and with different specifics, maybe Ryou wouldn't have overly minded having Malik inside his body.

He decided he was better not to say that outloud.

"Yes, but we haven't really gone through all the options."

"Which options?"

Ryou shrugged. "I don't know. But one of us has to have done something for this to happen. I say we can do some brainstorming and if by morning we still didn't get any ideas we can call someone. I'd rather not wake anyone up at this hour."

Malik huffed. He shook his head, and then plopped down on the couch next to Ryou. "Alright. So, did you do anything to piss off some kind of higher being lately or mess with some vengeful ghost?"

Ryou turned to Malik. "Not that I know of. You?"

"No. Been around any cursed artifact?"

"I wouldn't say cursed, really... I like to get things that catch my interest from flea markets and antique stores. I don't think I got anything cursed on accident, but sometimes I do end up with something a little peculiar. It could be that something has a spell attached."

"Great," Malik sighed. "Now we just have to figure out what is it that you own that has a curse on it."

"Are you sure I'm the center of it? Maybe you're the one who touched something," Ryou said. If anything this powerful was in his house, he would expect it to have already acted up before. It wasn't as if he or Malik had done anything to trigger a response form something.

"Well, I'm-" Malik stopped, looking down. "Do you mind if I don't look at your face while I talk to you?"

"No, that's fair."

"Good. Anyways, I'm fairly sure I haven't touched anything cursed recently. Isis is the one who handles most artifacts, she should have been hit first if there was anything. And I can tell if something has an obvious curse on it-"

"So can I," Ryou said, feeling somewhat annoyed by the implication. He'd been told he could be a little reckless when it came to the occult, and he wasn't going to dispute that, but he also had his fair share of experience by now.

"I'm just saying, you're the one who buys random things that may or may not be magical, and we are in your house."

"I'm not an idiot, Malik. I don't bring here just anything without a little precautions. I know I've made mistakes in the past, but..." Ryou trailed off. He took a deep breath. "I'm sorry. I guess this made me a little on edge."

Malik huffed. "You apologize too much."

"I snapped at you."

"If you call that snapping," Malik said. "I've always wondered how you always manage to stay so calm in this kind of situations."

Ryou shrugged. "I suppose it's just my personality." He never saw any point in panicking, or growing angry. Too much effort, and if you were already in a tricky situation, why waste that effort instead of putting it towards solving your problems?

"Wish I knew how you do it."

"Why?"

Malik's lips were pulled into something halfway between a smirk and a sad smile. "It would avoided a lot of people a lot of problems, back in the day. Zen approach to life would have done me good. Instead I was just a dick." After a few beats, he said, "this is where you tell me that I wasn't so bad after all."

"Dramatic backstories are cool," Ryou said.

Malik snorted. "Yeah, that's one way to look at it."

They sat in silence for a while. Ryou started contemplating what their next move could be. He made a mental inventory of everything he had gotten recently that could have had something attached to them without him realizing. Something fairly new, if it was activated by two people sleeping in the same house then it must be more recent than the last time Ryou had had someone sleeping over.

If that wasn't the activation, it could be more of a problem. Best to investigate into that option first, and then look into possible alternatives.

"I have a problem," Malik said, breaking the silence.

"What is it?"

"I need to pee."

"...you know where the bathroom is?"

"It's your dick, Ryou."

"You have my permission to do what needs to be done with it," Ryou said. A permission he'd also love to extend to other situations.

"Thank you, still weird to touch someone else's dick while you pee."

"Do you want me to hold it for you?"

Malik made a face. "That's even worse."

"Then I'm afraid I can't help you."

With a shake of his head, Malik stood up. "I'll figure it out."

"Good luck," Ryou said.

He looked down at himself. There was a good chance he might also need to go sometimes soon. This was most definitely not the way he had hoped to get acquainted with Malik's private parts.

***

"This should be all," Ryou said, dropping a box full of various trinkets on the table. A handful of other things were already on the table, objects he'd taken off shelves and from the bottom of his drawers. He'd have to clean his room later, given how many things he had unceremoniously dumped on the floor as he looked.

Sometimes he thought he owned way too much stuff.

"Where do you even get all these things?" Malik asked.

"Thrift stores, markets, that kind of places."

"And you see _this_ ," Malik held up a doll, "and decide to buy it?"

"Why?"

"It's terrifying," Malik said.

Ryou looked at it. Sure, the expression was not the most friendly he'd seen on a doll, but it had a certain charm to it. "I think it has personality."

"I think if this is cursed I won't be surprised," Malik murmured.

"I'll make us coffee, sounds good?"

"Yes, thank you."

Malik started rummaging through the various things Ryou had collected. Truth to be told, Ryou wasn't sure how they were going to check them all – some did, in his opinion, have an inkling of something a little extra attached, but none of them had struck him as cursed. He hadn't really given anything a long check, just relied on gut feeling, but it wasn't as if there was obvious evil in anything. Nor did anything strike him as just particularly powerful. If there were hidden spells, it wasn't going to be fun trying to drag them to the surface.

At least he had Malik to help him. He had his own knowledge of the magical and occult, and probably knew a few tricks Ryou didn't. If the doll was more than it seemed, they'd manage to make it talk.

"Not sure if I'll be able to be much help. I'm not an expert on Japanese magic," Malik said as if on cue, turning a box full of old shogi pieces in his hands.

"Do Kemetic curses feel much different than Japanese ones?"

"I haven't experienced a lot of Japanese ones, so I wouldn't know."

"I'll have to find you a curse to examine," Ryou said.

Malik snorted. "I'll pass on that."

Ryou poured them two cups of coffee. "You take yours black, right?"

"Yes."

Ryou gave Malik one unsugared cup, and then grabbed a few sugar cubes to put in his own coffee.

After a sip, Ryou stopped.

Malik pulled a face. "What kind of coffee do you use? It's so bitter."

"It's not the coffee." Ryou shook his head. "It's your mouth."

"What?"

Ryou held up his cup. "This is way too sweet."

Which is not a sentence Ryou usually said. He had a little bit of a sweet tooth, and could stomach things many people found almost nauseatingly sugary. Yet now this was leaving a weird and very unpleasant feeling in his mouth.

Or rather, Malik's mouth, that was used to much different flavors than Ryou's.

Malik closed his eyes. "Great."

"Want to switch?"

Sure enough, the cup he'd originally given Malik tasted better. It still veered a little into the too bitter for Ryou's preferences, but it somehow was more stomachable than the one he'd drank from before.

"This is so weird," Malik said.

"It makes sense it would happen."

"Yes, but I still wouldn't expect it to."

"You know, your accent is different too," Ryou said.

"My accent?"

"Yes. It's still there, but it's not as heavy." Maybe Ryou's tongue held some kind of muscle memory that helped Malik roll the words around better.

"One good thing, at least."

Ryou didn't agree. "I like your accent."

Malik blinked. "You like it?"

"It sounds good."

"...thanks, I guess," Malik said, lowering his eyes and taking a long sip from his coffee.

Ryou couldn't help but notice a light pinkness to his cheeks. Ryou's skin always did blush rather easily, a byproduct of being so pale.

It occurred to him he had never seen Malik blush before. Malik had that kind of confidence that made people assume he'd rarely, if ever, get embarrassed, but now Ryou found himself wondering just how much did his skintone hide. Maybe if one were to fluster Malik enough he would flush so much it would show even in his body. If a compliment had brought a dusting of pink, maybe a kiss would turn him properly red-

"You look cute blushing," Ryou said, because his brain to mouth filter was apparently failing. He was blaming this on Malik's body being still jet lagged. He couldn't be expected to run his thoughts properly on a slowed down hardware.

Malik choked on his coffee. "I'm not- What?"

Ryou shrugged, trying to play it cool. "You were blushing. It's cute."

"I'm not cute! If anything, you are cute!"

It was Ryou's turn for his face to feel warm. "I am?"

Malik cleared his throat. "Well, it's your body, isn't it? If you think it looks cute, then you're the one who looked cute."

"You're not wrong."

But it was who was in it that really counted.

Ryou took a gulp of his coffee, and promptly burnt his tongue. He hoped Malik wouldn't hold that against him.

***

They were examining a tarot deck card by card when Malik's phone rang.

"Isis!" he shouted, picking up. "No- No, I'm not Ryou, Isis listen, we have a problem-"

Ryou looked up at the clock, rubbing his eyes. Seven in the morning. Isis must have just woken up.

"She said she'll be here as soon as possible," Malik said, ending the call.

"Good." Ryou stretched his arms. "Should we get dressed?"

"Dressed?"

Ryou gestured at them. Malik was still in Ryou's pajamas, and Ryou was wearing nothing but boxers and the loose shirt he'd lent Malik the night before. "I don't usually greet guests in my underwear."

"Isis has seen me in far worse states."

"So? I'm the one who is in your body. It's embarrassing."

Malik shook his head. "Whatever. Grab me some clothes then."

The button up Ryou got out of the wardrobe for Malik to wear was probably a little nicer than what Ryou would usually wear in this situation. If Malik was in Ryou's body, that sort of made him Ryou's guest, and Ryou had always been taught to treat any guests as best as he could.

Ryou's choices on the other hand were somewhat limited by Malik being both taller and more built than he was. Malik may enjoying showing his midriff, but it wasn't really Ryou's style. A large hoodie would have to do.

As he took off his shirt, he heard a sharp intake of breath from behind himself.

"Malik...?"

Malik was frozen, fingers on his buttons, eyes on Ryou.

"Is everything alright?"

"I need a moment," Malik said, choked, striding out of the room.

Ryou stared at where he had just been, confused. He'd just been taking off his shirt. It wasn't as if Malik should be particularly scandalized by his own bare back.

Oh.

Right. He usually wouldn't be seeing them.

Once his hoodie was on, covering any offending skin, Ryou found Malik in the bathroom. He was leaning against the sink, breath heavy. In the mirror, Ryou could see he looked a little grey.

"Are you alright?" he asked. His fingers itched, wanting to comfort Malik somehow, but he wasn't sure how he would react to Ryou's touch.

"I'm fine."

"Was it the scars?"

Malik took a deep, shuddering breath. "I'm just not used to having them in front of my eyes, that's all."

"I should have thought about it."

Malik waved his hand. "No, don't worry. I'm the one who's overreacting."

Ryou leaned against the doorway. "I don't think you are."

"I don't see you panicking because you saw some of your skin," Malik snapped.

"That's because I can't see your chest right now," Ryou said.

Malik looked down at himself. His shirt was still half undone, exposing the edges of the scars on Ryou's chest. "This...?"

"Doesn't bother me, usually, but." Ryou shrugged. "It used to. I should have thought that yours might have bothered you."

Malik remained silent for a few moments. Then, "if you were anyone else, I'd tell you not to look down on me."

"But?"

"But you're you."

"Right now, sort of."

Malik huffed. "You know what it's like to have another guy wrecking shit inside your head. You get me more than..."

Ryou swallowed. Malik may have trailed off, but Ryou knew what he meant. They didn't usually talk about _that_ , but Ryou knew Malik understood more than most people did. More than Yugi did, for sure, because Atem had always been good to Yugi. Not like his other had been to Ryou.

"I think you're a good friend, too." The words felt somehow exposing, even if they were nothing Ryou wouldn't normally say.

"You're making this so sappy," Malik said, with a huff. He seemed to be regaining his composure a little.

"I like sappy."

"Well, it's not a good look on me."

"I think it would be."

Malik briefly made eye contact with Ryou from the mirror, before looking down again. "If I didn't know you better I'd say you were flirting."

Was Ryou? Not right now, it hadn't been his intention, but on occasion he had. "Why do you say I wouldn't?"

"Maybe because you're constantly surrounded by girls making heart eyes at you and I've never seen you so much at look at one twice?"

"That's just because I like boys better," Ryou said. He wondered if he had ever mentioned that to Malik. It wasn't the kind of things they usually talked about. Which was nice, because as a general rule Ryou thought talking about one's dating life was kind of boring. Conversations with Malik were often on much more interesting topics.

Which was probably one of the reasons Ryou had ended up getting a crush on the guy. Sort of ironical.

Malik tensed, and then shook his head. "Let's drop this conversation."

"Did I say something wrong?" Malik had sounded strangely irritated all of a sudden.

"No."

"Then why-"

"Let's just stop talking about this, alright?"

Ryou was confused. He didn't think the fact that he preferred men would be something that annoyed Malik, he knew Malik liked men too.

Was it the flirting thing? Ryou had basically implied that it would be a possibility for him to flirt with Malik. Was it that the idea made Malik uncomfortable? Would it bother him if Ryou showed interest in him?

That hurt a little to think about, but Ryou supposed he understood. If one of his friends had a crush on him he would also likely be a little uncomfortable.

"I'm sorry," Ryou said.

"Have I told you already that there's not need to apologize so much today?" Malik asked. He'd opened the faucet, and was now splashing water on his face. "And about what, anyways?"

"Having made you uncomfortable," Ryou said. "I promise you I won't flirt with you if you don't want me to."

"What the fuck?" Malik turned around, water droplets clinging to his hair. "Where did you take that from?"

Ryou shrugged. "You got angry when I suggested I may be flirting with you, so."

"What? No, I..." Malik trailed off, mouth slightly open. For a moment he just stared at Ryou, as if the gears in his head were slowly turning. " _Were_ you flirting with me?" he asked, sounding incredulous.

"Not right now, no."

"Have you been?"

"Maybe at some point."

Malik's face did something kind of impressive, first seemingly losing what color he had regained, and then turning bright red. Ryou wasn't aware his face could do that. "No."

"No?" Ryou repeated.

" _I_ have been flirting with  _you_ , and  _you_ have ignored me the whole time."

It was Ryou's turn to remain silent for a few seconds. "You've been flirting with me?"

"Nearly every time we've talked, for months now! I don't just send heart emojis to anyone I text."

"I do."

"That's because your texts are ninety percent emojis," Malik snapped. "Holy shit."

Yeah. Ryou was finding himself rewinding his every interaction with Malik, trying to see when had Malik been flirting with him.

" So you like me?" he asked.

Malik got even more red. "Maybe? A little."

"That's... That's nice. I like you too."

Suddenly, Malik snorted. "That's nice? That's what you have to say?"

"I didn't know what else to say," Ryou replied, feeling a little defensive now. It wasn't as if he just had his crush confess to him every day of the week.

There was a smile tugging on Malik's lips. "You know, any other moment, I'd take this as a good moment to kiss your stupid mouth."

"Why can't you do it now?"

"I'm not kissing my mouth."

"It's a nice mouth."

"You don't see anything weird with possibly kissing your body?"

"It's my body, why would it be weird to kiss it?"

Malik raised his hands. "Let's just talk about it when we've fixed ourselves."

"Alright." Ryou felt a little dizzy. He wasn't sure he had quite caught up with the conversation they'd just had, but if the bubbly feeling making its way through the shock was a good indicator, he was about to be very, very happy. "Can I also take you on a date when we've fixed ourselves?"

Malik cleared his throat. "If you want."

Ryou beamed. Isis couldn't come soon enough to help them.


End file.
